This hamster is just like us, unable to get off the wheel of life

Anybody who’s stuck running in the rat race can relate to the video below. You’re moving along just fine, simply going with the flow. You’re on the escalator of life, and it’s smoothly bringing you to your ultimate destination. It might not be fun, but it’s consistent and steady. Really, who could ask for more?

And then disaster strikes. The rats you’re racing turn on you to devour you whole. The flow with which you were going has suddenly become an upstream current that is pushing you to the places you don’t want to be. The escalator has stopped, throwing you into chaos.

That is what happens to the hamster on the hamster wheel in the video below.

Is this real? How did the older brother working at PetSmart know to film the exact moment when the hamster’s world turned upside down? How often does the hamster get stuck like this?

None of that really matters, of course, because the hamster represents all of us. We’re hanging on to a handrail, thoughtlessly pushed there by some other asshole, and we have to hold on for dear life.

Then, if we’re unlucky enough to survive, we get back on the hamster wheel and do it all over again.

Josh Katzowitz is the Weekend Editor for the Daily Dot and covers the world of YouTube. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. He’s also a longtime sports writer, covering the NFL for CBSSports.com and boxing for Forbes. His work has been noted twice in the Best American Sports Writing book series.